Great Eagle battle shifts to foundation stocks, projects

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Great Eagle battle shifts to foundation stocks, projects

A new point of contention in the succession row among members of the Lo family that controls Great Eagle Holdings has emerged - and it centers on the Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation. Founded in 2010, the foundation has been accused of not providing working and financial reports for review by members of the Lo family. A financial adviser of Lo Ka-shui - third son of the deceased Great Eagle founde...

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A new point of contention in the succession row among members of the Lo family that controls Great Eagle Holdings has emerged - and it centers on the Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation.

Founded in 2010, the foundation has been accused of not providing working and financial reports for review by members of the Lo family.

A financial adviser of Lo Ka-shui - third son of the deceased Great Eagle founder Lo Ying-shek and chairman of the conglomorate - said that since the foundation's establishment, it has provided working reports and information about its operations to Lo family members three times.

But Lo Kai-shui - the youngest son - questioned why the amount the foundation has invested in stocks is 10 times more than what has been used for charity projects.

Lo Kai-shui raised doubts whether the family trust, HSBC International Trustee, has appropriately monitored usage of funds earmarked for charity.

The Great Eagle succession tussle began in December when Lo To Lee- kwan - the family matriarch - filed a case at the High Court to dismiss HSBC International Trustee.

Lo Kai-shui had earlier published a letter written by Lo To, saying HSBC International Trustee has not followed her instructions since 2016.

Lo Ka-shui is chairman of the advisory committee of the foundation. His financial adviser said the foundation's funding comes from the family trust and that the trust has injected capital into the foundation twice in the past.

According to Sing Tao Daily, The Standard's sister newspaper, the foundation received a total capital injection of HK$246 million in 2010 and 2015. The foundation's assets amount to about HK$275 million. But only HK$27 million has been used for charity activities - around 10 percent of its total assets.

As of the end of last year, about 79 percent of the foundation's total assets were invested in stocks, amounting to over HK$217 million, and those investments were made in companies related to Great Eagle, including Langham Hospitality Investments and Champion Real Estate Investment Trust.

Lo Kai-shui said he and his siblings have never received any reports about the foundation except a brief report from Lo Ka-shui a few months ago.